Tag: 2022 class

Could USC land former No. 1 overall recruit Travis Hunter?

.@BuffaloesWire would likely agree Colorado is still the favorite to land Hunter because of Deion Sanders, but don’t completely rule out the Trojans just yet.

Jackson State star Travis Hunter, the top-ranked overall player in the 2022 class per 247Sports, has entered the transfer portal after announcing his decision Sunday night.

Hunter finished with 18 catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns in eight games. The star freshman helped force overtime in the Celebration Bowl with a 19-yard TD catch as time expired. Hunter finished his final game with JSU with four catches for 47 yards and two TDs.

On defense at cornerback, Travis Hunter had 20 tackles, two interceptions and 10 pass breakups.

Hunter’s departure comes on the heels of Tiger head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders departing to take the same position at Colorado on Dec. 3.

In the weeks following his hiring, Sanders has brought key pieces of his Jackson State regime to Boulder. Quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, entered the transfer portal shortly after the Celebration Bowl, and is expected to join his father with the Buffaloes alongside a few others, potentially including Hunter.

Colorado still has to be considered the favorite to land Hunter; several of his Jackson State teammates are expected to follow Sanders to Boulder.

Keep an eye out for USC, Miami and Georgia as well, however. Hunter is a Georgia native and UGA has had the best defense in the country the past two seasons.

USC and Miami are places where Hunter — who some people have called the next Prime Time — could play both ways on offense and defense. Hunter is projected to play corner at the next level but is an amazing red zone threat on offense with his 40-inch vertical and 6-2 frame.

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WATCH: Texas signee Brenen Thompson dusts the competition on the track

Texas signee Brenen Thompson can absolutely fly.

Landing four-star wide receiver Brenen Thompson was one of the biggest wins for Steve Sarkisian throughout the 2022 recruiting cycle.

Expect Thompson to be a major weapon for the Longhorns from the first day he steps on campus. The speedster from Spearman is a perfect fit for Texas’ offense. He matches the style of players like Xavier Worthy, Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, who each excelled in Sarkisian’s system in recent years.

247Sports ranks Thompson as the No. 20 wide receiver in the country and a top 150 prospect overall, finishing as one of the higher-rated players in Texas’ class.

Thompson is a two-sport star who excels on both the football field and the track. He left his competition in the dust during his first track meet of the spring season, running a 10.22 in the 100M and 21.6 in the 200M.

Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes, and opinions.

Potential last minute transfer portal additions for Texas

These four players would be great last minute transfer additions for Texas.

While the surge in transfers moving all over the nation has died down, there will still be another wave of transfers moving around after the spring.

Texas hit a home run with their initial transfer signings, but there are still a couple of areas of need that they struck out on.

Bringing in quarterback Quinn Ewers (Ohio State), wide receiver Isaiah Neyor (Wyoming), and defensive back Ryan Watts (Ohio State) were major additions that addressed some of the biggest holes on the team. With that being said, the team was also targeting a veteran EDGE and safety, which quite simply they whiffed on every single one they targeted.

There was a common theme of being tardy to the party for multiple transfers, and now that the dust has settled, the Longhorns still have a prime opportunity to bring in some late additions.

Here are a few players currently in the transfer portal that Texas has a chance to and should add to greatly improve the roster.

Alabama loses two 5-star recruits on same day to different programs with new coaches

Alabama strikes out on two 5-stars, losing them to two big programs with new high-profile coaches.

Alabama finished the Early Signing Day with the No. 2 overall 2022 recruiting class, and also managed to land a former five-star recruit in LSU transfer cornerback Eli Ricks.

Following Early National Signing Day, a few high-profile recruits made their commitments public, of those included two Alabama target five-star players: tight end Jaleel Skinner and cornerback Domani Jackson.

Skinner played high school ball at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and he will stay in the state to play for the Miami Hurricanes and new head coach Mario Cristobal, who recently departed from his former head coaching job at Oregon.

It’s worth noting that Skinner was originally verbally committed to Alabama since early October, but rescinded his verbal commitment today, as he signed with Miami.

Jackson is a five-star cornerback out of California’s Mater Dei, the same school Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young attended. However, Jackson, despite drawing heavy interest from Alabama, will be staying in-state to attend USC and be coached by Lincoln Riley.

Alabama did manage to land four-star athlete Kendrick Law today to add serious depth to the defensive 2022 recruiting class.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the Crimson Tide and the team’s 2022 class.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow AJ Spurr on Twitter @SpurrFM.

Swinney on biggest needs he hopes to fill in February

Clemson signed 12 players on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for college football. During his National Signing Day press conference Wednesday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked how many more players the Tigers would like …

Clemson signed 12 players on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period for college football.

During his National Signing Day press conference Wednesday, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was asked how many more players the Tigers would like to add on the traditional National Signing Day in February and if they have a target number in mind.

“We know what our needs are… You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out,” Swinney said. “We need a back. We need a corner and a safety. We’d like to get at least one on each side. Probably need another linebacker. That’s probably the biggest needs for us. Depending on what happens on our current roster as far as the defensive line, hopefully we will add a guy on the D-line as well, but we’re in a pretty good spot there.”

Swinney added that “it’s fluid” as far as how many players Clemson will ultimately sign in the 2022 class.

“Those are our critical needs at this point,” he said, “and feel good about where we are at the other positions.”

Christmas is right around the corner.  Once again Clemson Variety & Frame is ready to make it a special holiday for your favorite Tiger.

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LSU’s 2022 recruiting class early signing period tracker

A look at the class of 2022 as they sign with LSU.

The early signing period has finally arrived. New head coach Brian Kelly looks to put together his transition class of 2022 during the early period. Following the three-day process, the staff will begin working on the rest of the class that will sign in February.

Jacoby Mathews stated that he won’t sign until then, but he will make his announcement in January. The 2022 class is led by quarterback Walker Howard and offensive tackle Will Campbell. The two have been as locked in with the Tigers as one would expect for top in-state talent.

We will continue to update the list as next group of Bayou Bengals sign their National Letter of Intent.

Marcus Freeman already out visiting five-star recruits

Marcus Freeman is wasting no time trying to land a huge fish…

Marcus Freeman made it a point to say during his introductory press conference Monday that he needed to be the lead recruiter for Notre Dame if the Irish are to reach levels fans and Freeman so clearly desire.  He wasted no time whatsoever doing that as he was on a plane just a couple of hours later hitting the recruiting road.

We may not know everywhere he’s gone since that press conference ended but we do know one place.  Thanks to the investigative work of Nathan Erbach (any Notre Dame fan on Twitter should be following him), who follows Notre Dame recruiting as closely as anyone, Freeman was visiting a five-star defensive lineman.

Now who is Anthony Lucas, you ask?

The 6-4 1/2″, 275-pound defensive lineman is among the top recruits in the 2022 cycle.  The Chaparral High School (Scottsdale, AZ) product is yet to give a commitment and 25 programs have officially offered him including the likes of Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Texas A&M, and USC.

Can Freeman pull it off with just a week remaining before the early signing period?

Time will tell but he certainly wouldn’t have much of a chance if he wasn’t out on the trail himself.

Stay tuned for more on Lucas’s recruitment and where Freeman and company end up visiting next here at Fighting Irish Wire.

Related:

Notre Dame’s 2022 recruiting class commitments

Best images from Marcus Freeman’s introductory press conference at Notre Dame

Tommy Rees talks all things Notre Dame football and Fiesta Bowl

Texas Football: Christmas wish list of recruits to close out the 2022 class

If the Longhorns are able to land a few of these recruits, they’ll be in great shape.

Steve Sarkisian and his staff have the opportunity to close out the 2022 recruiting class on a high note. Continue reading “Texas Football: Christmas wish list of recruits to close out the 2022 class”

DeMarcus Ware, Darren Woodson among 2022 Hall of Fame semifinalists, Romo out

Two Cowboys are among the 26 semifinalists for induction in 2022, including Ware in his first year of eligibility. Here are their bonafides. | From @KDDrummondNFL

The Pro Football Hall of Fame has whittled down their initial list of contenders, and things are once again interesting in Cowboys Nation. After releasing a list of 123 nominees being considered for induction into their 2022 class back in September, the esteemed group has narrowed their focus to just 26 players.

Dallas had several players under consideration who did not make it to the next round. DT La’Roi Glover failed to make the cut, as did RB  Herschel Walker and more notably quarterback and current CBS analyst Tony Romo. Two noteworthy Cowboys did make the cut, and they are safety Darren Woodson and edge rusher DeMarcus Ware.

Woodson has now reached the semifinal round six times in his career. He was a semifinalist for 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and now once again for the 2022 class.

Drafted in the second round of the 1992 NFL draft, Woodson was a part of three championships with the Cowboys. The safety was known for his ability to also play man-to-man coverage, often dropping into the slot to defend opponents receivers. His coverage ability, play diagnosis and hard-hitting nature earned him three All-Pro nominations and five Pro Bowl appearances.

For his career Woodson totaled 23 interceptions, 12 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, 11 sacks and 967 total tackles. He started in 162 of 178 career games, and each of them was in a Cowboys uniform.

Ware has a much more likely chance of making it to the final group as well as being inducted overall.

Ware is a four-time First-Team All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler, who left Dallas after nine seasons to finish his career with the Denver Broncos. The move worked as Ware was a member of the 2015 world champions.

Ware’s career stats closely resemble those of Jared Allen, a first-year finalist this year, but stunted by the star-studded class. Ware has 138.5 career sacks to Allen’s 136 and has a slightly higher Career AV of 128 to Allen’s 125.

Pro-Football-Reference’s Hall of Fame Monitor ranks Ware as the ninth-best OLB, with a score of 95.33. The average Hall of Fame OLB’s score is 106.19.

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Where Texas commits rank in the new On3 consensus rankings

Two players rank inside the top 100!

Steve Sarkisian and his staff are about to be in the thick of recruiting within the 2022 class. There are still plenty of prospects left on the board Texas will be going after, plus a couple who are committed elsewhere.

Everybody is always concerned as to where the Longhorns and their commits are ranked compared to other programs. Three websites have traditionally done that for us, but now, there is a new database rolling out.

On3 has built a new player database with recruits being involved. Alongside their own rankings, they have introduced the On3 consensus — similar to the 247Sports composite. It takes the rankings from 247Sports, ESPN, Rivals, and On3 and combines them into one rating.

For Texas, they have two players inside the top 100. Wide receiver Brenen Thompson (No. 48)  and running back Jamarion Miller (No. 98) are the highest on the offensive side of the ball, while Jaray Bledsoe (No. 196) is top of the defense.

Here is where all Texas’ prospects rank in the new On3 consensus.